National Ice Hockey League

History

The ENIHL was formed in 1996; following the dissolution of the British Hockey League (BHL), and the creation of the Ice Hockey Superleague and the British National League (BNL) as the top two tiers of British hockey. The ENIHL served as the third tier of hockey; operating below the BNL.

Tiers of British ice hockey since 1995

Following its inaugural season, an upper tier within the ENIHL was founded, so as to serve as a league for the members of the BNL who could not afford to remain in that league due to the increased operating costs; but at the same time played ice hockey to a higher standard that of the other ENIHL teams. This division was originally known as the National Division, and during the 1997–98 season the teams in this division played dual schedules; a series of games solely amongst themselves, and another amongst all of the teams which fell under the jurisdiction of the ENIHL at this time. Solihull Blaze won the league and play-off trophies of both formats during this inaugural season.

At the start of the 1998–99 season the divisions, whilst still both under the ENIHL umbrella, performed in their own separate competitions; and the national division adopted the name Premier Division, and later on became known as the Premier League. By the end of the season the league had established itself outside of the ENIHL as the English Premier Ice Hockey League (EPIHL); reducing the ENIHL to the fourth level of Britain's ice hockey pyramid.

However, in 2005 the BNL disbanded, leaving the EPIHL to take its place as the second tier of the national game and, consequently, re-establishing the ENIHL as the third tier of British ice hockey. In April 2007, the EIHA lowered the upper age limit within the junior leagues, abolishing the under 19 age limit to become under 18. Due to the large gap from junior level to the EPIHL, many teams were forced to enter a reserve team into the ENIHL. This increased the size of the league from 22 teams through to 30 teams for the 2007–08 season. Later in the 2007 off-season, the EIHA suggested introducing an under 25 age limit across the league. However, this age limit was removed within weeks in favour of a drive towards developing players. The ENIHL was restructured for the 2008/2009 season into two regional divisions North and South, with two leagues in each regional division.

Following the 2012–13 the league was renamed the National Ice Hockey League, removing the word English due to non-English teams participating. In 2013, it was agreed at the EIHA AGM to restructure the Northern league into two conferences; Moralee and Laidler. The split was done primarily on regions and neither conference was regarded as being higher than the other. However, at the following year's AGM, it was agreed to return to a tiered Division 1 and Division 2 format. However, the conference names remained in place with Division 1 taking the Moralee Conference title and Division 2 the Laidler Conference title.

In 2014, it was agreed at the EIHA AGM to restructure the Southern Division 2 league to have Western and Eastern Conferences. Due to the odd-number of teams in the league, the Eastern Conference had six teams while the Western Conference had five teams. Both conferences were run completely separately and each winner was only regarded as being the conference winner, with no implication of one conference winner being regarded as the league winner. A two-round playoff format was introduced at the end of the season to determine a league-wide winner. The winner of the playoffs would then be the team promoted to Division 1. In 2017, the two conferences were reunited.

Players

The league itself is considered to be a development league, and as such the players are normally amateur. Many teams have affiliate teams in higher leagues. Other teams are aligned with junior ice hockey clubs, and exist to ensure that when players hit 18 there is still a possibility for them to play competitive hockey if they have not joined a professional team.

The system

National League

Note the Berkshire Bees announced they would sit out the 2025/26 season with the intention to ice a team again in the 2026/27 season.

Division 1

Division 2

Season structure

As of the 2018–19 season, the divisions are the following:

North

Each team plays each of the other teams in their league a total of four times; twice home, twice away.

At the end of the regular season, the top 4 teams in the division take part in the Playoff weekend, which are one-off games, replacing the previous home/away format. There is not usually a third placed Playoff. Blackburn Hawks currently hold the record of most consecutive final appearances with four from 2011/12 to the present season, winning in 2012/13 and 2014/15.

The rules regarding promotion and relegation between the Moralee and Laidler regularly change.

There are occasional cup competitions, but the format changes in most seasons but usually takes part in a league format.

South

Each team plays each of the other teams in their league a total of four times; twice home, twice away.

Unlike the North, the South keep a two-legged home-and-away format throughout the playoffs. In Division 1, this is a three-rounded format, involving the teams who finished in the top 8 of the regular season. In Division 2, this is a two-rounded format, involving the teams who finished in the top 2 of their conference. In the semi-finals, the conference winners play the runners-up from the other conference with the final involving the winners of the two semi-finals.

Division 1 has a Cup competition involving six of the teams. These are initially split into two groups of three, with the top two from each group going on to a knock-out, two-legged semi-final and final.

Division 2 has a Cup competition involving eight teams. These are initially split into two groups of four, with each group containing two teams from each conference. The top two teams from each group go onto a single Cup Final Weekend held in a single venue, with semi-finals on the Saturday determining the two teams to play the final on the Sunday.

League champions

In 2019, the EIHA announced a new National League to sit above the existing regional leagues. This mainly comprised the teams of the former EPIHL that had dropped into NIHL Division 1 in 2017. The competition Champions are as follows:

Rules

Follows International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) rules, as used by countries in all major European leagues. There are significant differences between the National Hockey League rules and IIHF rules, including rink dimension, netminder puck handling, and icing.

The ENIHL also operates under additional EIHA regulations.

Additional discipline rules are also enforced by the EIHA, which include;

• Team fines of up to £5,000 for failure to complete a fixture
• Fighting is banned as contrary to the principles of good sportsmanship
• A points system for misconduct and match penalties
• Player suspensions based upon accumulation of points
  • 10 points – 2-game suspension
  • 15 points – 3-game suspension
  • 20 points – 4-game suspension
  • 25 points – 5-game suspension
• Penalty Points for coach/managers and bench officials
• For every 20 penalty points accumulated against the team (players, coaches, managers and bench official) – £25 fine
• 50 team penalty points – £100 fine
• 75 team penalty points – £250 fine plus suspension
• 100 team penalty points – £250 plus the £250 suspended fine awarded at 75 points = £500 total fine

References

References

1. http://www.facebook.com/SlapshotScotland {{User-generated source. (March 2022)
2. "NIHL: New structure for National League agreed by clubs to start 2019/20 season – English Ice Hockey Association".
3. "English Premier League history and statistics at hockeydb.com".
4. [http://www.vectistigers.com/history.html History] {{webarchive. link. (17 February 2009 , Vectis Tigers (last accessed 13 April 2009))
5. [http://www.eiha.co.uk/2007_06_08_EIHA_Board_Meeting_Minutes.pdf English Ice Hockey Association Company Limited Meeting of Directors 8th June 2007] {{Webarchive. link. (25 July 2008 (last accessed 13 April 2009))
6. link. (22 July 2011 , Invicta Dynamos (last accessed 13 April 2009))
7. "Club Statement".
8. McGregor, Andy. (2019-03-16). "NIHL: New structure for National League agreed by clubs to start 2019/20 season".
9. [http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/sport/iihf-rule-book.html Rulebook 2006-2010] International Ice Hockey Federation
10. [http://www.eiha.co.uk/EIHA_Rules_and_Regulations.pdf Rules and Regulations] {{Webarchive. link. (17 May 2008 , EIHA)
11. [http://www.eiha.co.uk/Discipline_Document_2008-2009.pdf Disciplinary Document] {{Webarchive. link. (28 August 2008 , EIHA, Revised 7 June 2008)